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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Sarah Josepha Hale, President Lincoln, and Thanksgiving

A few
days late and a few pounds heavier, I emerge from my turkey coma to bring you
my Thanksgiving blog.

The American
Thanksgiving tradition didn’t actually begin with the first New England
settlers in Plymouth. From time to time, these pious souls would announce a “day
of Thanksgiving” in response to some stroke of luck or divine providence. These
17th century events were not hearty feasts such as we enjoy today,
but days of fasting and prayer. Thanksgivings were called in response to rainfalls
which saved crops, the arrival of ships bearing additional supplies and
settlers, and other fortunate occurrences, but they were not regular scheduled
events. Over the next 200 years, however, the tradition seems to have
flourished in New England, despite being little known throughout the rest of the
country.

One of
the first references to a recognizable American Thanksgiving came in an 1827
novel called Northwood. This
fictional account of New England family virtues spends an entire page and a
half describing the parlor of New Hampshire’s Romelee family, laid out in
anticipation of their Thanksgiving feast. Another two pages are then dedicated
to the amount and variety of foodstuffs arranged around the dinner table; the
quintessential roasted turkey and “savoury stuffing,” “innumerable bowls of
gravy,” “the celebrated pumpkin pie,” “a sirloin of beef,” “a leg of pork and
joint of mutton,” “a goose and pair of ducklings,” and “that rich burgomaster of
the provisions, called a chicken pie.” There’s also a reference to some sort of
vegetable, buried somewhere underneath everything else.

The
author of Northwood was a prodigy
named Sarah Josepha Hale, who would later go on to make a name for herself as
the supposed author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” the editor
of the Ladies’ Magazine and Godey’s Lady’s Book, and the organizer
of a massive public bake sale that provided the funds necessary for completion
of Boston’s Bunker Hill monument. Born in New Hampshire in 1788, she seems to
have been fascinated with New England’s Thanksgiving traditions for most of her
adult life, writing a short story entitled “The Thanksgiving of the Heart” in
1835.

As the
editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, Ms.
Hale wrote an editorial in 1837 calling for New England’s informal Thanksgiving
tradition to become a national, annual holiday, “on the same day in November,
say the last Thursday of the month.” Between 1851 and 1871, she would issue a yearly
call for a day of National Thanksgiving. As the years passed and no action was
taken at the national level, her arguments became more forceful, noting the growing
popularity of the custom and the increasing amount of state support. By 1858, perhaps
a little exasperated, she was really hammering home her point:

“We are most happy
to agree with the large majority of the governors of the different States as
shown in their unanimity of action for several past years, and which, we hope,
will this year be adopted by all that THE LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER shall be
the DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING for the American people.”

Whether
19th century readers considered her print version of the Twitter
shout bad etiquette is not clear.

As the
United States edged closer and closer to civil war, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale coyly
suggested that “the fine filaments of the affections are stronger than laws are
stronger than laws to keep the Union of our States sacred in the hearts of our
people… Thanksgiving Day, if fixed and perpetuated, will be a great and
sanctifying promoter of this national spirit.”

In
September of 1863, in the midst of war, the gloves came off, and a letter was
dispatched to no less a personage than President Abraham Lincoln. “Sir,” it
begins, “Permit me, as Editress of the “Lady’s Book,” to request a few minutes
of your precious time.”Over the next 8 paragraphs, she laid out her case point
by point, and listed supporters that include state and territorial governors, foreign
ministers, missionaries, and even naval commanders. She urged the President to
make a proclamation to affirm Federal support for the holiday. At one point,
she casually mentioned having enlisted her friend William H. Seward (Lincoln’s Secretary
of State) to confer with Lincoln and presumably advance the cause. At the end
of her letter, Ms. Hale crisply informed the Commander in Chief that “an immediate
proclamation would be necessary, so as to reach all the States in season for
State appointments.”

Seemingly
bowing before the onslaught, Abraham Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving
Proclamation on October 3, 1863. In it, he acknowledged that even in the midst
of a war of “unequaled magnitude and severity,” the United States had been
blessed by good harvests, expanding settlements, and increasing population. He emphasized
that these blessings had stemmed not from man, but from God, and that the
nation should accordingly give thanks where thanks was due.

“It has seemed to
me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully
acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I
do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and
also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set
apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving
and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”

This
Thanksgiving season, in addition to many, many other blessings, I am thankful to
President Lincoln and even more to the relentless, indomitable Sarah Josepha
Buell Hale.

* * * * *

The author of this blog has absolutely no authority to make official proclamations of any kind regarding existing or theoretical holidays, days of fasting, days of prayer... days of any kind, really. If you have a non-holiday related comment, post incessantly below.

__________

Hale,
Sarah Josepha Buell. Northwood: A Tale of
New England. New York: H. Long and brother, 1852.

Lincoln,
Abraham. “Day of National Thanksgiving. By the President of the United States
of America: A Proclamation.” 3 Oct. 1863. The
Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Licolniana. Library of Congress, n.d.
Web. 24 Nov. 2012.

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About Aaron M. Dougherty

Aaron is a 2010 graduate of Eastern Michigan University's Master's program in History, with an undergraduate degree in History and Writing. Since 2010, he's worked as a writer, researcher, and historical interpreter for several museums and historical societies in the greater Boston area. Writing this blog is MOSTLY for fun.